The vegetarian option

[evilharpy]

A thread in AIBU about "if you had your own restaurant" had lots of responses about vegetarian options usually being shit and always involving goat's cheese, mushrooms or beetroot which is sadly bang on. Although where our work Christmas lunch is, both the (only) vegetarian starter and main are based on chestnuts. I've seen another Christmas part menu that has three veggie starter options out of six, and two out of six mains, none of which involve mushrooms, goats cheese or beetroot. And no risotto!

Wondering if you are vegetarian (or not, but just like the veggie option on the menu), what sort of things would you like to see? I would like meat-free meals out more often but they really do often seem like an afterthought/token nod.

Oh - and I agree, I hate it that pescatarians say they're vegetarian and then order fish which means that restaurants think that fish is suitable for vegetarians!

@mistlethrush, I had that at a wedding only it was asparagus risotto a plate of tepid white sticky boiled rice with a couple of spears of asparagus on the top

It's always bloody Vegan!!!

A lot of you living on the continent have just reminded me of my time in France! I often had to ask if the chef could make something vegetarian. 99/100 they made me a €20 basic salad. Every once in a while we'd find somewhere with a chef who saw it as a challenge and whipped up something lovely.

Absolutely everyone who learned I was vegetarian recommended a restaurant in Paris with "Moby eats there". It was very 70s lentil slop. I did find a couple of brilliant veggie restaurants (and an Ethiopian restaurant that catered really well for veggies and meat eaters alike). When I first came back here I was overwhelmed when I went out and had more than one choice.

I get annoyed in supermarkets when there are all sorts of exciting meaty pizzas but the vegetarian options are Cheese and Tomato or Vegetable Supreme. Would it be so hard for them to use a bit more imagination? Nowadays in supermarkets there is a lot more choice if you are a fan of fake meat but it's the same as ever if you want vegetable-based dishes. They need to take the Ottolenghi approach and find a way to make vegetables the star of the dish.

I would like: less fake meat, and less fake cheese.

I know, it is to appeal to put-upon meat eaters trying to do Veganuary, and it is easier for the chef to just do a Quorn version of the meaty meals rather than a specific vegetarian meal. But honestly, if you miss eating meat that much that you would choose a fake hotdog over something vegetable-based, just go back to eating meat.

@KirstenBlest

Mushroom risotto is usually lukewarm slop

You can make an amazing, creamy, umami mushroom risotto.

Unfortunately most restaurants don’t. Just over-salted watery rice with a few chopped mushroom pieces.

I've also had this at weddings, meaters loading up with the veggie stuff leaving hardly anything for the vegetarians.

I love goats cheese, beetroots, mushrooms anything really. How can you be a vegetarian and not like vegetables?

Naan bread wih garlic butter and yogurt sauce.

Just stayed in a hotel with work for 2 days and actually the vegetarian options were nice, but again only two options because it was a steak themed restaurant (in an airport hotel used frequently for conferences and hosting cabin crew from all over the world so you'd think they'd widen the choice available!). They were the usual suspects of:

Starter - caprese salad or tomato and red pepper soup.
Main - you guessed it, mushroom risotto or butternut squash curry.

The others had about 22 choices of mains and starters. The curry and soup were vegan.

It is so bloody lazy

@Nomoreusernames1244

Speaking of weddings- i wish caterers wouldn’t just cater to the number of given vegetarians for a buffet.

They always forget that everyone will eat the vegetarian option. So those 10 portions end up shared between the entire 70 guests.

Yes! My family does this too with the vegetables when having fajitas. They'll load up their plates with the only thing I have to put in my fajitas, when they've got meat to put in too.

Vegan cheese smells and tastes rank. I cannot stand the stuff. Eating in restaurants as a veggie is much much easier these days than it was in the 90s and 2000s but there's still room for improvement

@DrCoconut

Ooh yes, the ubiquitous chilli or Cajun spiced something or other. And also why is the vegetarian option so tiny? I remember one Christmas dinner out where everyone was tucking into a huge turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Mine was a plate of vegetable pasta that my picky 6 year old could demolish without it touching the sides. I could have scarfed half the roasties they were all sending back because they were full except they were cooked in goose fat 😫

We went out for dinner recently, and my veggie pasta dish was smaller than four year old DS’s pasta from the children’s menu! Mine was starter sized (it was not a starter) and his was enormous

Yes! My family does this too with the vegetables when having fajitas. They'll load up their plates with the only thing I have to put in my fajitas, when they've got meat to put in too.
It's it's undercatering that's the problem in my opinion. It's annoying as an omnivore as well, I want a bit of everything including meat. If it's your family can't you just remind them to buy more veg?

@KirstenBlest the catering team at my workplace have got wise to this problem and any "special requirements" are plated individually with the persons name on. And it's usually a decent selection too. Then everything on the buffet table is fair game.

Urgh it really pisses me off when it’s just a vegan option! Especially when that vegan option is fake meat! I now make a point of leaving google reviews praising places for having veggie options that aren’t vegan in the hope of encouraging them to continue!
But I love goats cheese, beetroot, pastry and all the other stuff. I would be disappointed with pasta.
There’s a veggie restaurant near me that does amazing veggie haggis, neeps and tatties. I’m in Scotland so it pops up quite a lot, often in breakfasts.

Coming back to this thread to have a Christmas moan! Just been food shopping for Christmas weekend with DH, he had a huge choice - various turkeys chicken, duck, goose, beef, lamb, pork, smoked salmon etc etc. We went to Waitrose, M&S and Sainsbury's. They ALL just had vegan options, no vegetarian, and it was all of the fake meat variety - no-beef Wellington, imitation duck, turkey etc. One had nut roast, but full of mushrooms which I hate. I'm so annoyed. According to the latest stats I've seen, 10% of the UK are vegetarian, 3% vegan, will many meat eaters also reducing the amount of meat they eat. Why are vegetarians not being catered for properly? Argh. I know I could make something for myself, but as the only non meat eater in the house, it would be more convenient to be able to buy something I just need to heat up.

Yes our local pub has just reopened under new management (yet again).

Loads of non veggie options (clearly all frozen and microwaveable) but I have the choice of a "Cambodian" curry ( whatever that might be) or a "plant based" vegan burger.

Needless to say none of us will be eating there.

Best meal I've had in a pub was some homemade Glamorgan sausages. Absolutely divine

a restaurant near me serves filleg veg as vegetarisn option.
often pumpkin/squash, but also peppers, tomatos, onions!, aubergine...

pumpkin filled with curried quinoa & feta is my favourite.

@MissCreeAnt

Is there a norm for what's in veggie haggis? I've never come across it.

Waitrose stock it all year round. It's nut based.

I know this thread is over a month old but this issue- lumping veggies and vegans in together and forcing bland, dull, dry vegan options on us is destroying me!! It makes my blood boil so massively to see some of my previous favourite restaurants/ranges at supermarkets now transforming options into being fully vegan. Main options at wedding and events are now a vegetable on a plate despite me ticking the veggie not vegan option box!! This shows SUCH a lack of understanding of both the real, actual demand for fully vegan options and the difference in our diets. I am sick of it. its taking the joy out of eating out.

I suggest like others have said we keep leaving reviews highlighting this all and also email restaurants/head office to highlight this.

Direct them to this thread and also this- www.finder.com/uk/uk-diet-trends which clearly shows how many more- literally millions of vegetarians as opposed to vegans there are in the UK. This needs to stop!!

I can't abide this notion that all vegetarian food is sweet by default (butternut squash, beetroot etc).

The goat's cheese thing baffles me - it's such a specific flavour profile. I don't actively dislike goat's cheese, but even I think it tastes a bit like socks.

I like Levantine / Sephardic Jewish cuisine, much of which is vegetarian by default, but uses good flavour bases.

My dh is veggie and loves Aubergine lasagne, mushroom Wellington or cheesy pasta bake.

I get fed up of every veggie option being Butternut squash or sweet potato. Mind you, I went to The Gate in Hammersmith for the second time really looking forward to all the choice I would have. Nope. Of all the things mentioned only one did not include Jerusalem artichoke which I absolutely loathe. Luckily I like aubergine which was the one other choice!

I get quite excited if the veggie option is a pie - which does not include sweet potato, Butternut squash or Jerusalem Artichokes. I quite like Goats Cheese but don't normally ask for it. I have to be in the mood. Ditto feta cheese.

Was very happy that one of my local pubs has two choices I love - Macaroni cheese or veggie toad in the hole!